I bailed on pasta, processed meats, packaged premade “meals”, and stopped drinking soda when New Coke was released in 1985. I eat meats (chicken, pork and fish) and greens… Mostly greens. Cook at home and generally avoid all the garbage on the store shelves in bright;y colored boxes. Shop the edges of the grocery store - that is where all the fresh food is.

Mostly by cooking a lot of your own meals, then you know what goes in them. My only cooking stuff that freezes well does limit me somewhat though, trying to cook more day by day in the winter at least.

In my opinion, for each meal you should have carbs, vegetables, and protein. Assuming no dietary restrictions. It’s different if you have diabetes, for example

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Eat a variety of plant based whole foods, limit processed foods, avoid ultra processed foods.

NutritionFacts.Org is a non profit run by Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM, a real licensed doctor. It has a ton of great information, breaking down scientific studies and examines how diets affect the population. There’s a reason why 9 out of the top 15 causes of death are dietary related, and there’s a reason why people who exclusively eat planet based have much better health outcomes, in terms of heart disease, cancer, etc.

Calorie and macro-nutrient tracking/counting.

Healthier choices follow as a normal consequence. Once you’ve got the proof in front of you of the nutritional value of food and what it’s doing for you, it’s really a lot harder to make unhealthy choices again… It’s easier to get fruit and veg into your diet, veg in particular is so filling for how low in calories it is it’s basically “free”.

I’m not on any sort of restrictive diet– low carb, low fat, no sugar, keto, vegan, or anything else– except that I stick to my recommended energy intake. I didn’t intentionally cut junk food out, there’s nothing I’m forbidden from eating, but I ended up eating far less junk food incidentally as a result.

It absolutely is not for everyone– some people find calorie counting stressful or a time drain, and it does of course have an association with disorders– but eating only your recommended energy intake for your age, height, gender, and activity level is a great starting point.

If you’ve stuck to your calorie budget but you’re still physically hungry late at night… Well, your diet needs rebalancing.

Switched most of my white bread for brown bread, try to get some beans and chickpeas in from time to time. Try to eat a touch less red meat and replace it with fish, and usually my chickpea or bean meals mean I don’t have any meat with those.

Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners, eat fermented foods like kimchi/kefir/sauerkraut etc, increase fiber intake. No alcohol except on special occasions.

I don’t avoid fat at all except trans fats. Salt I’m also not overly concerned about. Will eat as much bread and carbs as I want.

Still look and feel great for my age (almost 40), body fat is low, and I get a lot of compliments - so I guess it’s working. Bloods are always excellent too.

Pretty easy to stick with this diet and it isn’t too restrictive

There is pretty good consensus on the basics:

1. Aim for less than 25g of sugar and less than 5g of salt/sodium per day (processed food typically contains lots of salt).
2. Eat mostly vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.
3. Eat unsaturated fat. Avoid trans fats.
4. Prefer water to other beverages. Even tiny amounts of alcohol can hurt you.

This is based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy_diet#Recommendations

Eat vegan, the rest sort of just figures itself out

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nobody can seem to agree on what a ‘healthy diet’

You’re wrong but it’s OK. Eat vegetables. " Things that are green " if it helps you. Not too much meat, not too much bread and pasta. That’s it, it’s easy. 2 or 3 times a day, not more. Stop eating sugar.

Try to get 30 grams of fiber a day. Limit processed foods. Limit saturated fats.

I eat a lot of salads with avocado. Oatmeal with dried fruit. Beans and rice.

I had high cholesterol and was overweight. Changing my diet fixed these issues and made me feel better.

You don’t have to have a perfect diet (trying too hard to get one ends up being bad for you), you just have to do enough of the things mentioned here.

Given than nobody can seem to agree on what a ‘healthy diet’ looks like

as a side quest I recommend working on how to distinguish credible sources of information from not